


envy

by WreakingHavok



Category: Shazam! (2019)
Genre: And all that jazz, Asphyxiation, Bonding, Brotherly Love, Child Abuse, Gen, Kinda considered, Now with chapter two!, Pain, Speeches, Suffering, Tears, Torture, and bandaids, attempted asphyxiation, basically this could be titled “Freddy gets beat up”, but from the villain, i guess, not a trusted adult, or just, which includes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-15 08:34:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18495277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WreakingHavok/pseuds/WreakingHavok
Summary: Freddy is used to being pinned against lockers.He’s used to the clang of his skull on metal. He’s used to the way his legs thrash as they find nothing to stand on. He’s used to the crushing pressure on his chest or his neck, making his lungs stutter and gasp for air. He’s used to the humiliation and the gleam in his torturer’s eyes as they kick his crutch down the hallway. He’s used to their talk, their degradation, their insults.This time no different, he tells himself.He doesn’t believe that at all.Or,Why Freddy tells the supervillain where Billy is, because we weren’t given a reason in the movie.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> TW: Choking, children in pain
> 
> Be safe, and let me know if I need to add any tags.

Freddy is used to being pinned against lockers.

He’s used to the clang of his skull on metal. He’s used to the way his legs thrash as they find nothing to stand on. He’s used to the crushing pressure on his chest or his neck, making his lungs stutter and gasp for air. He’s used to the humiliation and the gleam in his torturer’s eyes as they kick his crutch down the hallway. He’s used to their talk, their degradation, their insults.

This time no different, he tells himself. 

He doesn’t believe that at all.

The supervillain grins at him, purple eye sparking. His arm holds Freddy in the air effortlessly, and no amount of struggling on Freddy’s end seems to do any good. 

It’s the same villain that attacked Billy out in the mall, and Freddy knows how easily this man could snap his neck.

“You will tell me where he is,” the man growls. 

Right now, Freddy is enraged at Billy. But he’s scared for him, too - scared out of his mind. He remembers watching the villain slam Billy into the ground, remembers thinking that Billy wouldn’t get up each time, remembers screaming Billy’s name and scanning the crowd uselessly, unable to run through the crowd and look for him. Unable to do anything. Again.

If this man found Billy, he’d kill him, and probably the rest of his family, too. Freddy’s heart rate picks up at the mere thought of losing them.

“Never,” Freddy gasps. It’s the noble thing to say. It’s the right thing to say. Yet, somewhere deep inside him, he feels dread tugging at his gut, telling him to save himself. Like Billy says. Look out for numero uno. 

Freddy shakes his head, trying not to think about that. “Never,” he repeats defiantly.

The villain grins. “And that is where you’re wrong.”

He lets go, then, letting Freddy drop hard to the ground. Kneeling, he pushes his hand under Freddy’s chin, pinning him to the lockers by his throat. Freddy kicks out with his good leg, gasping, hands grabbing at the villain’s arm to no avail. His feeble efforts are met only with laughter. 

“I am Sivana,” the man purrs. Freddy only stares back at him through dimming vision. “I only want the location of the Champion. Give it to me, and you get to live.”

The hand crushing his airway lessens, and Freddy inhales too hard, choking on his own air. Sivana lets him cough, smoke beginning to pool around his shoulders. There are faces in the grey smog, red eyes and teeth grinning ferally at him. Freddy’s eyes widen, pain lancing through his neck. 

“You can’t kill me,” he finally gasps out. “I’m the only one who knows where - where the Champion is,” he tries. It’s the weakest excuse in the book, and he knows them all. But really - it’s fitting. A useless excuse for a useless excuse for a human.

Sivana only smiles at him. “If you were to perish - if my hand were to slip - it would only be a matter of time before the Champion came to me. After all, I’m sure dragging your corpse through the city streets would attract his attention.”

The hand is back on his throat. The smoke whirls faster, one of the faces snapping out and ripping off a piece of Freddy’s jacket. 

Freddy chokes out the closest thing to a scream that he can manage. He can feel his body starting to shake, rebelling against his brain’s instructions to hide his fear. His body jerks as Sivana presses harder. 

“Or,” the villain muses, “I could drag you through the city alive.”

The hand leaves his throat long enough for Freddy to take a shuddering breath before Sivana slaps it over his mouth, dangerously close to his nose. Freddy breathes heavily through his nostrils, eyes blown wide and staring at the smoke now surrounding his legs.

“Would you like that?” Sivana asks. “I could break your legs and pull you by them. I could make you crawl your way through the streets with a leash on your bruised neck. I could beat you until you’re on death’s door. I could throw you off a five story building.”

Freddy’s eyes start to well up with tears and he blinks hard, trying to keep them at bay. For every awful suggestion Sivana gives, his brain conjures up an image, his heart racing at the speed of sound. 

What would Billy think? What would Billy do? Part of him is tempted to let the man kill him - let Billy know that the last thing they ever did together was fight, that he’s the reason he’s dead. 

But then again, Billy has never once thought of him as family.

He shakes his head hard, making a noise akin to a sob. 

Sivana growls approvingly at him. “You are like me,” he hisses. “All your life, you have been told the same thing. You are never going to be good enough.” Sivana’s other hand finds his bad leg, shadows accumulating around it. Hissing, they pull on it, slowly twisting it beyond where it’s supposed to go.

Freddy shakes his head, whimpering pitifully. It feels like his leg is on fire.

“Billy thinks he’s better than you now. And he is. He’ll leave you in the dust.” 

Freddie hisses as Sivana’s hand leaves his mouth. Panting, he swallows hard and forces out a feeble, “No -”

“Yes!” Sivana shouts, and Freddy screams in earnest. One of the shadow demons has sunk its teeth deep into Freddy’s leg. “He already has, boy. Why don’t you think he’s here? Why hasn’t he come swooping to your rescue?” 

The demons retreat, and Freddy sobs as his leg returns to its normal position. The teeth marks burn as they seal over, leaving scars that he can feel will stay for quite a while. Freddy’s throat constricts, and he can’t hold back the tears any longer. He cries, humiliated, overwhelmed with shame and pain. His mind races.

He’s doing this for Billy. He’s suffering for Billy.

Billy, who takes selfies for ten dollars in the park while his brother gets beat up in the lunch room. Billy, who would rather run away from home than let Freddy have just a moment of everything he’s ever wanted.

“All you must do is tell me where he is, and you will be superior. He will be nothing. You will be everything.” Sivana whispers, reaching up to wipe a tear off of Freddy’s cheek. He flinches away from the hand, staring up into the villain’s purple eye.

In its glass surface, he sees his reflection. Eyes red, neck bruised, tears streaking down his face. It morphs, then - green, wart-covered skin, red eyes, slobber dripping from a toothy grin - a hideous creature that makes him cry out and push back against the lockers.

“Envy,” hisses Sivana. “It is inside you too.”

The smoke around him howls. Freddy shudders, transfixed on the monster in the eye. 

“You are Envy,” Sivana rumbles. 

Billy’s words from the bus crash echo through Freddy’s mind. Visions of Billy walking through the streets, people staring, running up to take pictures and get autographs. Billy, who is loved by everyone. Billy, who can fly.

“I am Envy,” Freddy agrees, voice hoarse and broken. 

In the reflection, Envy grins.

“Where is the Champion?” Sivana asks for the last time.

There is a moment of silence.

“He’s at my house,” Freddy answers, voice hoarse and broken. “I’ll take you there.”

Sivana laughs and stands. The smoke around him vanishes. “Good boy,” he whispers. 

Sivana grabs Freddy under the arm and pulls him to a standing position. Freddy’s bad leg buckles underneath him and he howls, crumpling against the lockers.

Sivana does not care. He thrusts Freddy’s crutch into his trembling arms, hand locking firmly on his shoulder. He leans down, breath against Freddy’s neck.

“Lead the way, Envy,” he whispers, pushing him forward.

Freddy doesn’t hesitate.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Crippled boy. No run. Sins. Run. Teeth. Leg,” Freddy monotones sarcastically.
> 
> Billy ignores him. “I thought you were in your adult form.”
> 
> Freddy doesn’t answer him, mouth opening and closing as he searches for words that won’t come.
> 
> Billy sighs, worry pulling at his gut. “Either you tell me, or I’ll tell Victor and Rosa.”
> 
> Freddy stares at him. “You wouldn’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I? Never? Write? Sequels? So. This might not be good.

“Victor, I don’t understand,” Rosa sighs. “Darla has never had nightmares before, she’s never complained about the dark -“

“It’s just a part of growing up,” Victor mutters. “All we can do is pray, Rosa, and hope she grows out of it.”

Rosa leans into her husband’s embrace. “She’s so young. They’re all so young.”

Billy swallows from his unseen position on the staircase. He turns and creeps silently up the stairs, avoiding the creaking step, opening the door to his room as quietly as he can.

Freddy is sitting up on the bottom bunk, blanket curled over his shoulders like a cape. “Did you say goodnight?”

Billy shakes his head, shutting the door. “No. They were talking about Darla.”

“Oh. Her nightmares?” 

“Yeah. Mary’s got her, though. She should be fine.”

“I’m just glad the rest of us don’t scream when we wake up,” Freddy deadpans. Billy looks away and pulls off his hoodie, guilt pushing through his chest.

There’s a silence, and eventually Billy clears his throat and steps up onto the first rung of the ladder.

“Hey, Billy,” Freddy says, and there’s something funny about his voice as it cracks through the silence. “Before you get up on your bunk, could you -“ 

He stops, the blankets rustling.

“Yeah?” Billy prompts. “Could I what?”

“Could you get one of my pajama shirts from the drawer?” 

Billy snorts. “Your forty blankets not enough for you, Mr. Freeze?” He steps down anyway, walking to the dresser. 

“Yeah,” Freddy murmurs. “Sure.”

Billy frowns and pulls out a ratty red T-shirt. The Flash’s logo is peeling off of the center. “This ok?”

Freddy nods, letting the blanket fall from his shoulders as he reaches for it. Billy frowns. “You’re wearing a shirt already.”

Freddy makes an impatient grabbing motion. “Just give it,” he snaps.

Billy pulls it out of his reach and watches Freddy’s face contort into a grimace of pain. “What’s wrong?” he asks, voice dropping to a quiet rumble. 

“Nothing is wrong -“ Freddy swipes for the shirt again and Billy backs up several steps. 

“Is that blood?” Billy asks, staring at Freddy’s blanket. His bad leg peeks out from the edge, red spotting the fabric of his pajama pants. 

Freddy snaps the blanket over his leg. “No,” he hisses, eyes panicked now. “Give it to me -“

Billy’s eyes fall on Freddy’s jeans, lying forlornly on the carpet. Picking them up, sure enough - blood stains the left leg, around where Freddy’s calf would be.

Billy drops the jeans.

“I swear, it’s fine,” Freddy says. “I can take care of it, just -“

Billy stalks forward, sitting down hard on the bunk bed. Freddy flinches as the mattress bounces. 

“Show me,” Billy orders. Freddy doesn’t move. Billy stares at him. 

Freddy stares back. There are tears welling up in his eyes, face scrunched up in pain. His hand ghosts around his neck, fingers brushing the fading bruises the demons had left on him. 

“Billy,” Freddy pleads. 

Billy pulls the blanket off of his leg. Freddy leans forward and grabs his arms, attempting to throw him off, but Billy catches his wrists and pins his hands to the bed, holding them there with one hand. 

“Please,” Freddy says, desperate.

Billy steels himself and yanks up Freddy’s pant leg to get his first look at the wound.

It looks like a bite. A bad one. Puncture wounds line either side of his calf, some of them sluggishly leaking blood, others scarred over.

Freddy shakes under Billy’s hands. “It’s fine, it’ll heal,” he stutters, watching Billy with wide eyes. “I swear it only started bleeding when I fell earlier, remember, I was trying to run up the stairs and I landed wrong, must’ve opened up a few of them, it’s really okay -“

“When did you get these?” Billy interrupts, hands leaving Freddy’s wrists and ankle to examine each bleeding cut. They look deep. Freddy hisses when Billy pokes at one, a fresh trail of blood leaking down his skin.

“Battle, must be.” Freddy tugs at his collar. “Same as these.”

Billy frowns. “The bruises, right. But the thing about those is that your injuries don’t transfer from your adult form to you.”

Freddy looks away. “Maybe I’m different.”

“You’re not.”

“Well, where else would I have gotten them?” 

Billy throws up his hands. “The Breyers. Maybe you got jumped. Stray dog.” He turns his head, staring at the door. “Victor. Rosa.”

Freddy inhales sharply. “No. Billy, no, they wouldn’t - they didn’t -“

Billy stands, heading for the door.

“Where are you going?” Freddy calls after him, a bit too loud for Billy’s liking. “They didn’t do anything to me, I swear!”

“Then where did you get those?”

There’s no answer from the bottom bunk.

“I was with you all day at school, it wasn’t the Breyers. I walk you home every day. Nothing has happened since the battle.” Billy pauses, and then throws the shirt at Freddy. “Try and stop the bleeding. I’ll be back.”

“Don tell them, please don’t tell them,” Freddy blurts.

Billy swallows. “Don’t worry. I won’t.”

He’s a quiet as possible on his trek to the bathroom, quickly grabbing a washcloth and wetting it in the sink. He rifles through the cabinet, finding some disinfectant and a handful of band-aids. After he makes sure he has everything he’ll need, he waits behind the locked door as Victor and Rosa clang around in their room for several minutes, then sneaks back into Freddy’s room once he hears the noise die down.

Freddy has the blanket shoved to the wall, pressing the shirt against his leg. He starts as Billy shuts the door.

“Just me,” Billy mutters. He walks to the bed, sitting down and taking the shirt from Freddy’s shaking hands.

“Thanks,” Freddy says, trying and failing to speak without a tremor in his voice. 

They’re quiet while Billy dabs away the blood with the shirt, tossing it to the side when he’s satisfied with his job. He takes the wet washcloth and starts poking at each cut, and Freddy hisses quietly. Billy swallows hard, but keeps going, trying to ignore the way Freddy’s whole body tenses under his touch.After a minute or so, Billy sets aside opens a bandaid and opens the Neosporin. 

Freddy breathes out a puff of air. “You came prepared, huh.” 

Billy shrugs. “Do you want an infection?”

“Maybe I do.”

“Maybe you’ll get rabies.”

“Don’t think smoke can carry diseases.”

Billy stops smoothing down the first band-aid. “So you got bit by smoke?”

“Uh. Well, no, I - you see -“

Billy’s eyes widen. “The sins. The sins are made of smoke.”

“There,” Freddy says after a moment of consideration. “See? Told you I got bit in the battle.” 

“No. No, you didn’t, Freddy.” Billy stares at him. Freddy won’t meet his eyes.

“Really. Can’t we just leave it at that?” Freddy asks, triumphant voice gone as soon as it arrived.

“No. Tell me what happened.”

“You already know what happened.”

“I don’t think I do.”

“Crippled boy. No run. Sins. Run. Teeth. Leg,” Freddy monotones sarcastically.

Billy ignores him. “I thought you were in your adult form.”

Freddy doesn’t answer him, mouth opening and closing as he searches for words that won’t come.

Billy sighs, worry pulling at his gut. “Either you tell me, or I’ll tell Victor and Rosa.”

Freddy stares at him. “You wouldn’t.”

Billy hoists himself off the bed. “What was it? Rabid dog? I think maybe you need to go to the hospital.”

“Billy, no, please sit down -“

“Or maybe the Breyers choked you out. Maybe we need to press charges.”

“Stop it, ok, come back -“

Billy’s hand is on the doorknob, and he turns it with a creak.

“Fine!” Freddy whisper-shouts. “I was looking for you in the mall. I was scared out of my mind, I couldn’t find you, and Sivana heard me and made -“ Freddy chokes on his own words, screeching to a halt. “He pinned me against the lockers and choked me and one of the demons bit my leg. He made me tell him where you were. Made me take him here.” 

Billy’s frozen in place, heart pounding in his ears. “Freddy -“

“No. No -“ Freddy laughs, watery and wild. “He didn’t make me do anything. I did it on my own.”

“You -“ Billy can’t think. “No, that’s not your fault.”

“How? How is that not - I sold you out, I sold out my family because I wanted to - because I was jealous, of everything you had, of everything I didn’t.”

“Everything I have -“ 

“We’ve been over this,” Freddy says, fisting a hand in the covers. “Look. I told you. Happy?”

Billy doesn’t know what to say. “I didn’t know,” he ends up saying. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Freddy shrugs. “What was I supposed to say? Hey guys, I got tortured and brought the villain to you because I - because -“ Freddy stops. Billy waits.

“Because I’m envious of everyone,” Freddy whispers. “Because I’m Envy.”

Billy steps away from the door. “You shouldn’t say that, it’s not -“

“But it is true,” Freddy insists. “He showed me. I saw it, it -“

“Sivana told you that?” Billy’s angry now. “Why would you even listen to him?”

“I don’t know, cause he was cutting off my air supply -“

“You are better than me,” Billy almost shouts. 

Freddy’s mouth snaps shut.

“You are so much better than me,” Billy exhales, running a hand through his hair. “You - you’re smart, you’re funny. You’re nice. You put up with me, even when - even when I’m a jerk, even when I don’t treat you like you deserve. You are willing to make me a part of your family, you were willing to die to help me, you taught me everything I know. Please, you are so much more than what Sivana may have seen in you.”

Freddy makes a strange choking noise, looking away as Billy walks back to sit on the bed.

“I - I don’t -“ Freddy forces the words out, throat constricting and making it hard to talk. “I could’ve killed you all.”

Billy shakes his head, staring at Freddy’s leg. “But you didn’t. And it looks like you suffered for it.”

Freddy’s hand drifts down to pick at the band-aid. Billy slaps it away. “I should’ve gone back for you. Should’ve looked for you, instead of running away again.” 

“Yeah. You should have.” 

Billy looks down.

“But I shouldn’t have been jealous,” Freddy continues. “I shouldn’t have done a lot of things. So I think that now we’re pretty even.”

Billy smiles at him. “Even.” He picks up the band-aids and Neosporin again. “Come on.”

Freddy sighs and leans back. “Do what you must, Mr. Motivational Speaker.”

Billy pokes him and grumbles under his breath.

Freddy laughs quietly, scrubbing at his eyes.

“For the record?” Billy says, gently pulling the creases out of a band-aid. “You’re pretty brave, little brother.”

Freddy makes a small noise in the back of his throat and doesn’t say anything more.

It’s midnight by the time Billy climbs up to his bunk, having washed the bloodied washcloth and stored the other materials back in the bathroom. He stares up, watching the light from cars outside trace over the Superman and Batman logos plastered on the ceiling.

“Hey,” Freddy croaks from the bottom bunk. 

Billy peers over the edge. “Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Billy answers, turning back over.

“I’m glad you’re my brother,” Freddy whispers. Billy pretends that he didn’t hear him.

He falls asleep smiling.


End file.
